foolish heart

I have both a commuter/road bike and a mountain bike. I have toe clips on my road bike, and the clipless Shimano SPD-system PD-M545 on my mountain bike. My shoes have SPD cleats.

Been thinking of going clipless on my road bike. But I find the clipless pedals for road bikes way too fancy and fancy-looking for comfort. Thus, I was thinking of getting a pair of SPD clipless mountain pedals instead for my trustworthy road bike.

Would anyone have any suggestions as to what pedals to get? Preferably Shimano SPD, so that I don't have to change cleats. Also, preferably mountain pedals that would look good on a road bike.

古強者死神

Everybodies favorite clipless seems to be eggbeaters but that doesnt sound like what your looking for.

I think I want the Mallet C's so that I get to have a platform there and also have the eggbeater core since its the most popular clipless system I can think of. You may want to check them out and see if you like how they are. Candies are a smaller version of it that look pretty neat.

This is a the fastest way to see what they look like really fast

Mallet C's - https://images.google.com/images?q=mallet+c&hl=en
Candies - https://images.google.com/images?svnu...ggbeater+candy

they come with the cleats to go on your spd shoe so should be compatable.

AnthonyG

The PD-M540 or M520 work fine on a road bike. Nice and simple.

I was using some M515 pedals on a road bike and they worked well although I've now changed to SPD-SL road pedals and they do distribute the load better but they are a bit more difficult to walk in.

Regards, Anthony

gear

I totally agree with Anthony, I used SPD for years then switched to SPD SL. I like them so much more. SPD is fine for MBT riding and some commuting (when you need to walk in shoes) but otherwise I say upgrade to SPD SL and stiff soled road shoes.

foolish heart

Okay, guys. Will check out the stuff you recommended.

Any more input?

Silverexpress

Hello, are SPD-SL's comparable to Look cleats in how they stick out of the bottom of a shoe?

Bekologist

shimano A520 shares the compact clead of the SPD two bolt cleat with a Road pedal sized metal cage similar in dimension to the 105/ultg/dura ace cage on the Shimano road pedals.

Take a look at these single sided, compact, large caged, Shimano A520's for compact cleat pedals for a road bike. I'd still recc a stiff shoe and not a walker, those are not good for pedalling, and walking around in a rigid shoe isn't a big deal once you get used to it.

shaq-d

i still use spd's. no need to get anything else.

sd

In Absentia

I love my Time ATAC Aliums. They're a lot like the Mallets in so far as there is a platform around the springs. You can get them pretty cheaply if you do a google search.

Blackberry

+1. All bikes all the time. Keeps everything simple, and it works.

DieselDan

Just get another pair of SPD pedals like the ones on your MTB. No need to buy another pair of shoes.

Bekologist

Um, the Shimano A520 is a road styled pedal that still uses the SPD MTB cleat. That said, i still use my regular, mud shedding, double sided Shimano MTB pedals for all sorts of riding including centuries and loaded touring without any real issues.

Albany-12303

I have 4 bikes, all SPD.

spinnaker

I agree with the others. Just buy another set of pedals or if you want to get real cheap, just swap pedals back and forth. I use SPDs on my road bike with no problems. So maybe I could get an extra MPH with traditional road pedals. I really don't car. At least I'm comfortable and I can walk once I get off of the bike.

staple

I have the Shimano A520's on my road bike and like them quite a bit. They are single-sided, though, so that may take some getting used to if you're accustomed to having double-sided SPDs. They look really nice on the bike, just in case you're concerned about such things.

I am a recreational rider and really wanted the flexibility of using the same pedal system on both of my bikes. I have some nice stiff MTB shoes that are still pretty walkable, and this is working out great for me.

cyccommute 

For general riding (centuries, commuting, fast club rides, etc.), regular Shimano 520's can't be beat. They are cheap (usually $50), rugged and, being two sided, don't require you to learn how to flip the pedal. Just stick with them. As for road shoes being stiffer than mountain bike shoes, it depends on the shoe. I have a pair of Pearl Izumi I-beams with carbon soles that is every bit as stiff as the highest end road shoe - and stiffer than many lower end road shoes. And I can walk in the if I have to. In fact, as a volunteer for the Colfax Marathon, I ended up walking for 6 miles in the damned things Not something I want to repeat but at least they weren't road shoes

meldex

I use these. They get the job done (cheap).

ericgu

Roughly, yes. The SPD-SLs, however, have 3 little yellow feet that are rubbery rather than plasticy, so while they're somewhat weird to walk on, you can do it without sliding all over the place.

I once walked 1/4 mile on mine, but I wouldn't recommend it....

foolish heart

My idea was to get another pair of clipless pedals that didn't require me to have to buy more shoes. And since I already have the M545s on my mountain bike, my choices would be limited to SPD pedals. While I like my M545s, I sort of wanted to try out others. I think I'll try going the M520 route.

gm1230126

Get the Ritchey V4 Pro micro pedals. They are SPD compatible and yuo won't regret it. I love mine.
https://ritcheylogic.com/web/Ritchey~...rbonLogic.html

Dourbali Star

www.probikekit.com has the Shimano M520's for $31.83. No tax and free shipping to the US (they're a UK company). I ordered two pairs and they arrived to California in about 7 days. They have some unbelievable deals on other components, too.

https://www.probikekit.com/display.php?code=d1013

Braquet

I have tried the M520 route: they work well and look good on a road or commuter bike. However, I took them off because:

1. Much of my biking is done in city, with frequent red light and other traffic stops: as the mechansim is one sided you need to systematically check the pedal before starting at green, and rotate it to the proper side if needed. It can be dangerous to start pedaling on the "wrong" side because the side without mechanism is not flat at all, and the foot will all too easily skid off the pedal, which is absolutely not recommended when you are pushing hard to rev up while competing for vital manoeuvring space against cars left and right. I found that need to always visually check and fiddle to fix a bit too annoying for my taste.

2. Despite the fact the M520 Road does have a nice streamlined "platform" cage, the shoe does not in fact fully rest on it, and the pressure on the foot remains on the same small surface as other SPDs. That ends up leading to a hotspot on the sole of the foot, and can become very uncomfortable on long outings. Having superstiff soles helps against this, but then walking becomes annoying.

I have now moved my 3 bikes to Speedplay Frogs, which are double sided and do not cause me that hot spot issue (the cleat is much wider than SPD and the system spreads the pressure better). They have other minor idiosyncracies, but this is not the topic.

In conclusion I would recommend you put a double-sided SPD on your road/commuter bike even if it looks somewhat out of place, or go for the Eggbeater or Speedplay Frog options which look a bit better, are lighter (at the high end of range) and work well.

nemonis

M520 pedals are mountain bike pedals. A520 pedals are the single-sided road pedals. M520 pedals ARE double-sided, and do not have a platform.

dayve

+1

I bought a set of these for my MTB when I wanted to try out clipless to make sure I liked it. I used them for a couple thousand miles of muddy, rocky single-track riding. I am still using them on that bike (but to pull the kiddie trailer now). I've never had a problem with them. When I bought my road bike a couple years ago, it came with a very similar set of pedals. I'm staying with them for now just for the convenience.

catatonic

Either buy a matching pair of pedlas for your roadbike, or go to egbeaters for boht bikes.

My take has been to always use the same pedals across all the bikes, unless you have a very specific need to do anything otherwise.